


they're driving fast cars, but they don't know where they're going

by bowlingfornerds



Series: tumblr prompts [2]
Category: The 100
Genre: Alternate Universe - University, Alternate Universe- Modern Setting - Freeform, Fluff, Mario Kart, college students
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-19 08:26:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4739588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bowlingfornerds/pseuds/bowlingfornerds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From the tumblr prompt: [pokes your shoulder] Any chance you could write a one-shot of John Murphy? Something happy?</p><p>The beginning of John Murphy’s life wasn’t good. So he pleaded with every deity he could think of about the middle of his life – the part where he was a young adult and left home – that it wouldn’t be just good for him; it would be great.</p><p>A one-shot about Murphy doing something that makes him happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	they're driving fast cars, but they don't know where they're going

**Author's Note:**

> I LOVE LOVE LOVE Murphy, so I was super excited to get this request! I hope I did a good job, and you can request AUs or ships on my tumblr: bowlingfornerds
> 
> Title is from Echosmith's Cool Kids

The beginning of John Murphy’s life wasn’t good; he watched his father get arrested for stealing in his honour, and then his mother pass out in a puddle of her own vomit every night. So he pleaded with every deity he could think of about the middle of his life – the part where he was a young adult and left home – that it wouldn’t be just good for him; it would be great.

Murphy moved as far away from his tiny rundown home as he could. He knew that he would have to make the journey again whenever they found his mother dead on the bathroom floor, but he decided it would be worth it to at least shake the smell that lingered around him. When he reached Ark, he had his own room (not a needle in sight) with a bathroom he shared with three other people (no criminal records there) and a university filled with people sort of like him.

His Major was English Literature, and on his first day he filed into the back seat of the lecture hall; a class of fifty surrounding him. That first day was when he met Clarke Griffin.

She sat down on his left, the seat right next to him, and slapped her notebook onto the desk. While Murphy was in the class because he loved the subject, Clarke was there to get her credits and go back to the art studio. When she noticed him, she stared. Her eyes gazed into the side of his head; her brow furrowed a little as she searched his face, focusing a little harder when Murphy turned towards her.

“What?” He hissed. Clarke shrugged – he didn’t know her name yet, but she had golden curls and wide blue eyes and something about her seemed as if she came from an entirely different world to him. He wondered what she was staring at – was it the faint scar on his forehead from where he was hit by a glass bottle? Or maybe the way his eyes were more dull and lifeless than everyone else’s around them. She cleared her throat though, not one to turn down a challenge – she didn’t even glance away, just held her stare carefully.

“After class, me and some friends are having a Mario Kart tournament – would you like to join?” He was taken aback, sure, but after a dumbfound moment of staring, he nodded, in need of friends and, well – he was rarely invited to things that didn’t have an illegal vibe about them. The blonde smiled brightly, looking down to where the professor had just wandered in. She leaned over towards Murphy, lowering her voice. “I’m Clarke.”

“Murphy.” He wondered what she saw in him; was there some great sadness that leaked out of his pores? Did he forget to take off his ‘practically an orphan’ badge today? But then the professor began and Murphy’s attention was directed towards him; he didn’t notice the way Clarke sent interested looks in his direction or the way his lips curved up as the lecturer spoke.

An hour or so later, he followed Clarke out of the lecture hall and into the bright light of day.

“So, why did you invite me to join?” He asked, stuffing a hand into his pocket as they walked. Next to him, the blonde shrugged.

“You look interesting,” she replied. “Besides, we have uneven teams and this way Raven doesn’t play twice because she’s the best player and my team inevitably loses – you any good at Mario?” He shrugged, glancing away.

“I’ve only played it at friends’ houses,” he told her. She sighed.

“I commandeered a newbie? God, they’re going to laugh – don’t worry, Murphy, I’ll teach you.”

“Is your Major English Lit?” He asked next, and she shook her head.

“Art,” she admitted. “That’s why I stared at you a little-“ he snorted at the ‘a little’. “You have a good face to draw.”

The place where Clarke lead him was already full of people when they arrived. Clarke pointed each one out as they went past, naming them.

“That’s Jasper, Monty,” two guys, one with goggles, one strangely short, smiled back. “And that’s Raven-“

“The best player?” Clarke nodded.

“At least you’re not spreading lies,” the Latina girl Clarke had pointed at agreed.

“And that’s Octavia, and Bellamy – this is his apartment-“ Bellamy didn’t even look up when he sent an absent wave, and the other girl smiled brightly. “And that’s Miller,” the latter of people walking out of what seemed to be a kitchen and nodding. “Guys, this is Murphy.”

“Your parents named you Murphy?” Raven asked, wrinkling her nose up. He shook his head.

“I named myself Murphy,” he replied. Raven raised an eyebrow and he followed Clarke around to the sofa.

“How can you name yourself?” Jasper – he thought – asked.

“You choose that you hate your first name and go by your last, instead,” he shrugged. They nodded understandingly.

“Miller does the same thing,” Monty informed him. The one he remembered as Miller smiled and sat on the floor not so far from him.

“His first name’s Nathan,” Clarke whispered to him. “But you only call him that when you’re annoyed, okay?”

“He might punch you for that,” Bellamy pointed out, clicking a remote and making the screen flash to life.

“I _will_ punch you for that,” Miller corrected.

“Same,” Murphy nodded.

“You’re not going to tell us what your first name is?” Octavia questioned, sitting beside Miller on the floor. He shook his head.

“I don’t want to have to punch you guys just yet.”  The faces he could see all cracked smiles and within minutes the teams were divided – apparently they had set ones already created. Murphy was thrown onto the smaller side (which meant he was with best-player-Raven, as well as Jasper and Octavia) and they all had to change places until they were separated.

“Stops the cheating,” Clarke explained when Bellamy and Murphy switched places. Murphy agreed and watched the races go on. Octavia beat Miller (“Goddamn it Nathan, stop sending those red shells at me!”), Clarke beat Jasper, Raven dominated Monty, and Murphy was handed the controller.

“Bellamy’s pretty shit,” Raven informed him as the race counted down.

“I’m not,” Bellamy protested.

“I always beat you-“

“You always beat everyone!” Murphy laughed and played like they’d shown him to. He remembered the race course from a couple years before, playing with his friends in someone else’s house. They’d worked to figure out all of the cheats and shortcuts – and while he didn’t want to cheat with these new people, shortcuts probably weren’t prohibited. He took the first one he remembered, barrelling from seventh place into second with a smirk.

“Holy shit,” Jasper grinned. “He might actually win this.”

“How did you know that was there?” Clarke asked from the other side of Bellamy. Murphy took a moment to respond, driving directly behind Bellamy, in first place, to build up speed, before coming along the side and passing him.

“I told you I’ve played this at my friends’ houses, before,” he replied with a shrug, taking the inside of a corner. “My friends are notorious cheaters and spent their time figuring out shortcuts instead of doing homework.” Jasper laughed and murmured something about them being his sort of people, and Murphy didn’t want to openly disagree with him – so he just decided to say nothing about them doing prison time.

In the end, Murphy beat Bellamy by almost ten seconds, and Raven cheered loudly with Octavia, announcing they were happy to have him on their team. Murphy couldn’t help but smile; he didn’t come to Ark thinking that making friends would do much for him – that the ones he’d had only got him into bad situations. However, he realised, these ones weren’t bad at all. In fact, if life had decided to give him a break and hand over something good, Murphy didn’t think he would ever let go of it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading; remember to hit up the kudos and comments and prompt me at bowlingfornerds on tumblr.


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